Eight-Month Sentence Expected for Eames
Jefferson Davis Eames, 48, accused of hosting parties at which there was under-age drinking and drug use, pleaded guilty in East Hampton Town Justice Court Thursday to five misdemeanor charges and one violation.
In exchange for that plea, dozens of other charges, including one felony, were dropped. The deal, worked out between Rudy Migliore Jr., an assistant district attorney, and Mr. Eames’s legal team of Eileen Powers and Michael Griffith, will result in an eight-month sentence, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana said, which will be meted out on July 27. Mr. Eames will be free until then. Before she hands down that sentence, however, the probation department will perform a pre-sentencing investigation for her to consider.
The prosecution had sought a one-year sentence, Mr. Migliore said. An additional misdemeanor charge in a case scheduled to be adjudicated in Riverhead Town Justice Court will be reduced to a violation in satisfaction for the East Hampton pleas, Ms. Powers said.
The deal does not affect a felony charge Mr. Eames is facing in county court. He was indicted in late March for allegedly cashing a check for $24,200 that he was not authorized to cash. He is due back in court in Central Islip on Tuesday on that matter.
The plea deal followed a string of eight arrests on various charges, the oldest dating back to 2013, though most occurred within the past year. On Thursday, Mr. Eames pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of driving with ability impaired by drugs, one charge of hosting a party at which minors were consuming alcohol, and one charge of unlawfully fleeing a police officer, all misdemeanors. He also pleaded guilty to a harassment charge that is a simple violation.
Part of the process of entering a guilty plea is the allocution phase, in which the defendant is required to answer a series of questions from the prosecutor, related to the crimes in question. “Between Sept. 23 and Jan. 2, 2017, did you give a quarter Xanax to a 16-year-old female?” Mr. Migliore asked Thursday. Mr. Eames answered, “Yes.”
He admitted in court to allowing a 15-year-old to consume alcohol and to have knowingly allowed a party with under-age drinking at his house on New Year’s Day. He was asked if, on Nov. 15, 2016, on Abraham’s Path, he had been driving while under the influence of drugs. Mr. Eames hesitated, then quietly said, “Yes.” When asked what drug he had taken, he named the prescription Xanax.
He also replied in the affirmative when asked if he had fled in a Mini Cooper “at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone” from a police officer who had activated her emergency lights, also on New Year’s Day.
Mr. Eames has, in effect, already served more than 30 days of his sentence during two occasions when he was unable to post bail. That, combined with the standard one-third time off for good behavior in county jail, means he will likely serve a little over four more months.
Mr. Eames has previously complained that he was being targeted by East Hampton Town police, saying that Chief Michael Sarlo had a vendetta against him for personal reasons. He launched a federal lawsuit against the chief, as well as former Chief Edward Ecker and several officers, claiming his constitutional rights had been violated. There has been no activity logged on that lawsuit since last year.
On Thursday, as he left the court, he said that after he serves his time, he will likely sell his house and move to a different town, something he said he feels he has been forced to do. He said that he has been in a treatment program at Phoenix House. His attorneys indicated that he would enroll in Stop-D.W.I., a drug and alcohol abuse program provided in county jail.
Mr. Eames had been accused of hosting several parties at which drug and alcohol were consumed by minors. On Jan. 29, Jordan Johnson of East Hampton, 18, passed out and was left unattended for several hours at Mr. Eames’s house before someone eventually called 911 the next morning. The matter brought wide news coverage and intense scrutiny to Mr. Eames’s Neck Path residence. None of the charges he pleaded to on Thursday were related to that incident.